Gallery: The CTA slides deeper into decay

All photos by Stephen J. Serio

Steel patches on crumbling concrete at the Rosemont Avenue viaduct are among the many visible examples of the CTA's unfunded capital needs.

At Hollywood Avenue, steel braces and plates hold up a deteriorating infrastructure. Repairing Red Line viaducts would cost $406 million.

The good news: the CTA is renovating stations, such as Belmont Avenue on the North Side. The bad news: those renovations mean delays in the short term. The worse news: more repairs are needed, meaning more construction delays in the future.

The good news: the CTA is renovating stations, such as Belmont Avenue on the North Side. The bad news: those renovations mean delays in the short term. The worse news: more repairs are needed, meaning more construction delays in the future.

Perhaps the best way to eliminate delays would be to replace signals — some of which date to the 1950s.

Despite a hefty $727 million price tag, replacing outdated signals would be better than expanding the rail system, according to a former CTA official.

While on average 13% of all track in the CTA system is designated a slow zone, as much as 25% of the Purple Line is under some speed restriction.

This year the CTA is expected to carry 170 million passengers — up 25% from 1999. That's a huge factor causing some of the problems we see today.

College student Christopher Jones waits for his Red Line train at the Belmont station last week. "It (the train) can be a little faster. I just came back from London where everything is on time. Here you just stand outside and you freeze."

Some have argued that expansion of the system, such as the new Pink Line and planned express train to O'Hare, has come at a cost. Ballooning budgets on these projects take away from efforts to keep the existing system maintained or even upgrade what is already there, such as lighting on station platforms.

It would cost $567 million to replace rails system wide, not including ties and ballast.

One developing trouble spot is the age of the CTA's rail cars. By the time new cars hit the system in 2010, the average age of the 1,190 — car fleet will be 2 years older than the 25-year maximum federal recommendation.

With current station renovations and sorely needed infrastructure improvements to come, how long will commuters have to wait for reliable service?

Forbes' 2015 list of the wealthiest Chicagoans includes rookies (Michael Jordan) and longtime veterans (Ken Griffin and Sam Zell). Take a look at how the city's richest residents are ranked by net worth.
Read More

Since 1989, Crain's has introduced you to trailblazers and wavemakers. But as this timeline shows, many also represent crucial moments in Chicago history—and went on to make history themselves.
Read More